1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to pharmaceuticals and more particularly to a medical product which can prevent and cure diseases, especially in fish.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Infectious diseases have been studied by many individuals to determine their causes as well as appropriate cures and proper prophylactic drugs to prevent disease occurrence. Some diseases are caused by bacteria, some by viral infection and others are caused by parasites. It has been found that fish are especially susceptible to infectious diseases. Because of their limited homeostatic mechanisms and their continuously changing environment; causing adverse excessive biological stress, the fish are extremely sensitive to diseases. Included in the group of infectious diseases caused by bacterial agents are such well known fish diseases as ulcer diseases, dropsy, red and spot pests, mouth fungus, furunculosis, assorted gill diseases, columnaris, fin and tail rot, as well as general malaise. However, fish are also extremely susceptible to such internal and external parasites as fungi and protozoans. The disease ichthyophonus is cause by a fungi. Numerous parasites which usually inhabit the intestinal tract of the fish and remain as harmless, low or severe grade pathogens, can also cause physiologic disorders in the fish under certain conditions.
In addition to specific diseases, the environmental changes effecting fish such as vitamin deficiencies, overcrowding, temperature changes, fluctuations in the water chemistry, etc., can cause considerable biological stress on the fish and can reduce their defense systems whereby they will be susceptible to disorders caused by bacteria existing in the environment as well as parasites, normally harmless which are contained either directly in the fish or in their environment.
Numerous studies have been carried out to test various antimicrobial agents against infectious diseases caused by bacterial or viral causes. Similarly, many studies have indicated types of antiparasitic drugs to be utilized against the fungi and protozoans which may affect the condition of the fish. These drugs have provided some limited cure rate, but their effectiveness has not been very great. Also, it was generally necessary to continue usage of these drugs over long periods of time, such as approximately 20 days, in order to obtain any results at all. However, such continued use of the drug has had a tendancy of increasing the resistance of the bacterial strains against these drugs whereby their effectiveness is reduced with continued usage.
One of the reasons for the limited success in the prior art medicines is that they have failed to recognize that fish diseases do not occur as a single caused event but is rather the end result of interactions between the fish, the environment and the etiologic agent causing the illness. Thus, while the immediate cause of an illness may be a particular bacterial agent, numerous other bacteria regularly contained in the environment may induce secondary illness in the fish, or may combine with primary bacteria to cause a complex illness. Furthermore, the existing parasites will also effect the fish during such conditions to compound the illness and increase the disorders affecting the fish. In addition, the fish are very sensitive to environmental fluctuations and such changes in nutrition, temperature, water chemistry, number of fish, etc., can produce considerable stress on the fish so that normal parasites or bacteria present in the environment will now exceed the fishs' ability to defend itself against such etiologic agents and the fish will deteriorate under various disorders.
As a result of these complex interactions between the fish, its environment, the various bacterial, viral, and parasitic elements, it is not sufficient to utilize a single antibacterial or antiparasitic agent alone, or in sequence. Furthermore, merely attacking the specific bacteria or parasite suspected, is also insufficient to providing a total cure since the environmental stress on the fish must also be relieved in order to permit the fish to build up its resistance against the attacking agent.
It is therefore necessary to form a combination of medicinal ingredients which can specifically attack the numerous etiologic agents and simultaneously counteract the environmental stress placed upon the fish.